Tomato harvester



TOMATO HARVESTER Original Filed Oct. 31, 1961 O l q 8 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTORS FREDRICK L.- HILL LAUREN W. GATES Z57 BY 0W, WM} {W July E3,19%? HlLL EI'AL TOMATO HARVESTER 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct,31, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed Oct. 31, 1961 mmN b INVENTORSFREDR/(IK L. HILL LAUREN w. GATES m GE ATTY.

8 Sheets-Sheet 4 F., L. HILL HAL TOMATO HAHVESTER July 18, 1967 OriginalFiled 001:. 31

060w, AZ'TK July 18, 1967 F. HILL ETAL TOMATO HARVESTER Original FiledOct. 51, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS FREDR/CK L. HILL LAUREN W.GATES F. L. HILL ETAL TOMATO HARVESTER PEG. 6

, July 18, 1967 Original Filed Oct. 31, 1961 ATTS.

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5 INVENTORS or 1.. HILL LAUREN vv. G S

BY why/com 3% AITY July 18, 1967 F. 1.. HILL H AL TOMATO HARVESTER 8SheetsSheet 8 Original Filed Oct. 31, 1961 DISCAQDS INVENTORS FREDRICKL. HILL LAUREN vV. GATES BY G U/M 35464.04

ATI'TY.

United States Patent G 3,331,198 TGMATO HARVESTER Fredrick L. Hill, RioVista, and Lauren W. Gates, tockton, Calif., assignors to The Regents ofthe University of California, Berkeley, Calif.

Original application Oct. 31, 1961, Ser. No. 148,963, now Patent No.3,252,520, dated May 24, 1966. Divided and this application Feb. 28,1966, Ser. No. 530,628

6 Claims. (Cl. 56-364) separates the tomatoes from the leaves, dirt, andother I matter, and provides for the sorting of the tomatoes and theirloading into bins. Also like the invention disclosed in thatapplication, in the present machine (a) a cutting device cuts the vinesmain stem, preferably at root level; (b) a pickup device gently elevatesthe vine to a shaking device; (c) at the shaking device, rubber-coveredwalking bars mounted in two contrary-moving sets agitate the vine andadvance it along the bars, while providing a gradually increasingshaking force as the-vine moves from one end of the shaker to the other;((1) the vine is carried to the end of the shaking device and falls tothe ground through an open chute; (e) the tomatoes removed by the shakerfall directly onto a conveyor, which carries them rearwardly; (f)certain devices remove dirt, leaves, and trash from the harvestedtomatoes; (g) the tomatoes are cross-conveyed to sorting belts; (h) thetomatoes are visually sorted by hand as the sorting belts move them; (i)the sorted tomatoes are conveyed into containers, preferably located ona trailer being pulled parallel to the harvester; and (j) the tomatoesare then hauled away by trucks.

leaves, dirt and debris were always problems in previous tomatoharvesting. In this invention the conveyor that catches the tomatoesthat fall through the shaker also has a structure that gets rid of mostof the dirt and some debris, while a novel combination of blowers, theshaker, and certain conveyors, enables the device to clean out anastonishing amount of debris from the fruit, and improved novel transferstructures enable elimination of more of this material during transferfrom the collecting conveyor to some cross conveyors.

Another feature of the invention is that the tomatoes carried to therear of the shaker by the collecting con veyors and sent bycross-conveyor belts out to the sides, are transferred to forwardlymoving conveyor belts that carry them past a sorting station locatedbeside the shaker and the pickup, thereby substantially shortening thedevice and making it much more maneuverable than Where the sortingstation is located behind the shaker. Also a simplified conveyor systemsaves power and gives greater efliciency.

By locating the delivery means within the drivers view and providingcontrols for various elements, the driver is given a controllingposition over the entire operation and can do much to improve theefliciency of the harvesting operation so that total crew size can bereduced.

Further explanation of each step and stage, together with exposition ofthe problems encountered, will be given in, and other objects andadvantages of the inven' tion will appear from, the following detaileddescription of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a tomato harvesting machine embodying theprinciples of the invention. The output conveyor is broken and its endportion set to one side. Some portions are broken away to show partsthat are normally hidden from view.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the machine of FIG. 1 with thesorters platform and the output conveyor omitted for the sake ofclarity.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the machine of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view in rear elevation of the machine.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary View in side elevation and partly in section ofthe shaker unit and adjacent portions of the machine.

FIG. 6 is a view in vertical section taken along the line 6-6 in FIG. 5,showing the walking bars and their crankshaft, with some parts brokenaway to show other parts better.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view in rear elevation taken along the line 7-7in FIG. 5 showing the drive for the cross conveyors at the rear of theshaker unit.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view in section taken along the line 8-8 in FIG.5, of the conveyor onto which the shaker unit shakes the tomatoes.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the elements of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a side elevation diagram of the conveyor of FIGS. 8 and 9,with a dot-dash line indicating the tilt of the conveyor.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view in elevation and in section taken alongthe line 11-11 in FIG. 1, showing the transfer from a cross conveyor toa sorting conveyor.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view in elevation and in section of the sortingconveyor and discard chute, taken along the lines 12-12 of FIG. 1.

Brief general description (FIGS. 1-4) The drawings show a tomatoharvester embodying the invention and having a main frame 35 supportedon front wheels 36 and rear wheels 37. The frame 35 carries an engine orself-propelling means 38, a drivers seat 39, and driving and steeringcontrols 40. The main frame 35 also supports a cutting means 41 at thefront, a pickup and vine-lifting means 42 behind it, a shaking means 43behind that, a de-leafing means 44 at the rear of the shaking means 43,sorting stations 45 alongside and outside the shaking means 43, anoutput conveyor 46 at the forward end of the sorting station 45, and afruitdepositing device 47 at the outer end of the output conveyor 46.The device 47 places the harvested tomatoes into a bin 48 that is movedalongside the harvester.

At the forward end of the harvester is an assembly 41 for automaticallycutting off each tomato plant in the path of the machine. The cut may bemade at, below, or above the ground level, depending on the conditionsencountered, but generally it will be below the ground, and the cut ismade without shaking off or cutting into the tomatoes carried by theVine.

The pickup unit or vine elevator 42 raises thecut vine gently and int-ruly vertical lift, so that there is as little shaking as possible,and deposits the vine on the shaker 43. This vertical lift isaccomplished by synchronization of the elevator 42 with the ground speedof the vehicle. Shaking in the lifting stage is to be avoided, as anytomatoes that come olf the vine during lifting tend to roll down to theground and be lost.

The elevator 42 is kept above ground where the vine alone is gentlylifted, and the amount of dirt that gets on 3 to the elevator 42 is muchless than in other devices of this general nature.

The shaker 43 includes a plurality of vertical parallel walking bars 200with an upwardly extending undulating resilient upper surface 201. Thebars 200 are made to produce a walking action by a crankshaft 202 attheir forward end. The crankshaft 202 has a pair of diametricallyopposite crank pins 203 and 204. The pins 203 and 204 are at the forwardend of the shaker 43, and have respective forwardly extending arms 205and 206. The two arms 205 from the pins 203 are joined by a rigid basebar 207, and the two arms 206 are joined by a second base bar 208, thearms 205 and 206 being of different lengths so that the base bars 207and 20% never touch during operation. The base bars 207 and 208 liebeyond the front end of the shaker 43 and beneath the elevator 42 at aposition never reached by tomatoes, as will be seen. Every other walkingbar 200 is joined to the base bar by a connecting web 209 while theremaining (alternate) walking bars 200 are joined by a web 210 to thebase bar 208.

There is also, on the right-hand side of the machine, a crank 211 lyingat right angles to the crank for the pins 203 and 204 and of the samelength, and to this is pivotally secured a long pitman 212. Acounterweight 213 for the shaft 202 has its center of gravity directlyopposite the pitman pivot at the same distance from the crankshaft 202.The pitman 212 extends to nearly the rear end of the shaker 43 and isthere joined pivotally to a crank arm 214. The crank arm 214 is rigidlyjoined to a box beam 215, which is pivotally supported by pivots 216 onextensions 217 of the main frame 35. Along its length the beam 215 hasarms 218 and 219, which alternate, each arm 218 extending forwardly andbeing connected to an arm 200 by a link 220, while each arm 219 extendsrearwardly and is connected to an arm 200 by a link 221. The arms 200that are joined to the base beam 207 are connected to the arms 218 whilethe arms 200 that are joined to the base beam 208 are connected to thearms 219.

Thus, the single crankshaft 202 operates the entire walking operation ofall the bars 200 and walks them in alternate pairs. The base beams 207and 208 follow essentially circular paths and cause a point on theforward end of each bar 200 to follow a path like that shown in thecurve 222. The pitman 212 causes the box beam 215 to rock back and forthand the combination of the pitman 212 and the connections to the bars200 cause a point at the rear of a bar 200 to follow a path like thosein the curves 223 and 224 in FIG. 5. The result is a shaking action thatbounces the vines and shakes the tomatoes off the vine. The undulatingsurface 201 causes the vine to walk up the bars 200 until at their upperend the tomatoless vine falls down a slide 225 at the rear of themachine and drops on the ground. Although the walker-base-beaminterconnection system translates on generally circular paths, these areadjustable, to enable more or less vertical amplitude at the rockshaftthan at the crankshaft. The rear ends of the walkers may thus be made todescribe slightly elliptical paths in which the major axis may lie inthe line from the point in question to the crankshaft or may be at 90thereto, depending upon whether the amplitude at 90 to that line (theamplitude which is adjustable) is less than or more than the constantamplitude along the line which contains the crankshaft.

The effectiveness of the walking bars 200 in removing fruit from thevines of any particular breed of tomato varies with the rotational speedof the crankshaft 202 as well as with its throw. The speed may be set toyield the optimum recovery of ripe fruit for any particular variety orsize of vine and maintained at that speed, as will be shown later. Forexample, about 180 r.p.m. has worked well on some crops.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the arms 209 and 210 extend downwardly andforwardly of the walking bars 200, thereby enabling the elevator orpickup unit 42 to deposit the tomatoes on the front end of the bars 200at about the level of the end of the slide portions 141 of the strips140. There is no movement of the walking bars 200 through the gaps 143and hence no entanglement of the vine at this transfer point. The devicesmoothly transfers the tomatoes, and there is no opportunity fortomatoes to roll back to the ground once they have reached the slides141, for even if the tomatoes come off the vine after that point, solong as they have been carried up to the slides 141, they will fall downbetween the walking bars 200 and be collected with the rest of the fruitthat falls off at the shaker 43.

The shaker 43 separates the fruit from most of the vine, and thetomatoes fall down onto a conveyor 230 which is located just below thelowest points reached by the walking bars 200, a distance justsufficient to prevent the walking bars 200 from hitting any tomatoesresting on the conveyor 230'. The short fall from the bar 200 to theconveyor 230 helps to prevent damage to the tomatoes. The forward end231 of the conveyor 230 goes around a sprocket wheel 232 (FIG. 5) whichlies forward of the forward end of the walking bars 200, the rear end ofthe slides 141, and the crankshaft 202, so that any tomatoes which reachthe slide and fall between the bars 200 will fall onto the conveyor 230.Moreover, the conveyor 230 is enclosed within a forward wall 233, whichkeeps tomatoes from rolling off the lower end of the conveyor 230, andside walls 234 that also help to hold the fruit on the conveyor 230.

Details of a preferred form of the collecting conveyor 230 are shown inFIGS. 8 through 10. There are two chains 235, one on each side of theconveyor 230 running around and between the sprocket wheel 232 and arear sprocket wheel 236. A shaft 237 may connect the forward sprocketwheels 232, and a shaft 238 may connect the rear sprocket wheels 236, orboth chains may be driven individually. Cross members 240 are attachedto the chains 235 by means of brackets 241. The cross members 240 arepreferably flattened tubular members which are wider than they are high,and they are spaced apart a distance that is closer than the diameter ofthe minimum size 'of tomatoes to be caught but far enough to enablepassage of dirt and various debris through the conveyor 230. The spacingalso enables the conveyor 230 to catch the tomatoes in the spaces 242between succeeding cross members 240 and carry them up that way. To someof the cross members 240 are affixed brackets 243 which support stubshafts 244 on which are mounted rotatable roller 245. The rollers 245,which preferably are of nylon, roll on rails 246 and support the weightof the conveyor 230 and the tomatoes on it, while the chains 235 merelyadvance and move the conveyor and do not have to provide any supportfunction.

The conveyor 30 moves rearwardly and upwardly on the upper run, as shownin FIGS. 5 and 10, on a gentle slant, so as to hold the tomatoes againstdownhill rolling. On the lower run, there is a portion 247 where thetrack 246 moves down and a gap between that and a portion 248 where itcomes up, leaving an opening 249 between them. Here the conveyor 230 isslack and its path drops, as shown in FIG. 5, thereby providing anautomatic takeup of the chains 235 as they wear.

The upper surface 201 of the walking bar 200 is important. Instead ofproviding finger-like projections that are quickly worn away and thattend to damage tomatoes, the invention provides an undulating wide uppersurface 201 of rubber, which advances the vines upwardly, as they couldnot be advanced by smooth walking bars, but does so without damage tothe tomatoes and with considerably less wear on the bar surfaces 201.

Thus, it will be seen that the shaker 43 serves to advance the tomatovines rearwardly of the machine while shaking off tomatoes in agradually increasing order of severity. The tomatoes'fall down betweenwalking bars 200 into an area that is unencumbered by other parts andland on the conveyor 230. There are no places on the conveyor 230 orbetween the conveyor 230 and the walking bars 200 which could damage thetomatoes, because the crankshaft 202 lies beneath the conveyor 230, andthe bars 200 themselves are joined to the crankshaft 202 by the bars 209and 210 which extend forward of the conveyor 202 without touching it. Atthe rear end of the device, a cover plate 226 covers the box beam 215and prevents entanglement of the vines in the rocking device.

The conveyor 230 moves the tomatoes rearwardly and upwardly and dropsthem onto a pair of transfer or cross conveyors 250 and 251 (see FIG. 7)at the rear end of the shaker 43. The end of the conveyor 230 is spacedabove the cross conveyors 250 and 251, although it somewhat overlapsthem lengthwise. The conveyors 250 and 251 are slanted toward the front,that is, across their width, and are located closely adjacent to theslide 225, being joined to it by an upwardly extending slide portion252.

The vertical gap 253 between the conveyor 238 and the cross conveyors250' and 251 provides a space through which a strong current of air canbe sent from a pair of blowers 254. The air coming from the blower issent through nozzle-like outlets 225 at the gap 253 and passes throughthe stream of falling tomatoes as they drop from the conveyor 230 acrossthe gap 253. The current of air is not suflicien-t to affect thetomatoes to any substantial degree, but it does pick up the lightweightparticles of leaves and vines which have fallen down between the walkingbars 200, have landed on the conveyor 230, and have not fallen outthrough the openings 242. The air 'current blows them up over the slide252 onto the slide 225, whence they fall down with the vines and otherparticles that have been carried up over and fall off the rear end ofthe walking bars 200. The slide. 225 is shielded somewhat by a shield256 having side walls 257, a top wall 258, and a rear wall 259, and theshield 256 guides the current of air that passes from the blower 254 andthrough the gap 253. This helps to prevent any particles that fall fromthe ends 260 of the walking bars 290 from drifting back into the areaover the conveyors 250 and 251 and falling on them. Also, the bars 200have an upwardly slanted portion 261 carrying the vines above thecurrent of air from the blower 254 onto terminal portions 262 extendingout over the slide 225. Thus, the blower 254 keeps the area clear andalso disposes of such debris as may remain on the conveyor 230 when itreaches the upper end of its run. The current of air is also elfectiveeven to pick up leaves and vine particles that have fallen onto theconveyors 250 and 251, although most of them never reach a quiescentstate.

The blower 254 may be of the Well-known vane type, in which there is anaxial air inlet 263 and vanes 264 drive the air through a spinal pathgradually increasing in diameter, by which the air passes to the outletnozzle 255. The vanes 264 are driven by the engine 38.

The cross conveyors 250, 251 move outwardly from the center toward thesides and, as said before, are inclined toward the front. Thisinclination toward the front cooperates with diagonal guide members 265,and the combination is used to transfer the fruit from the crossconveyors 250 and 251 to the sorting conveyors 270 and 271 that extendforwardly along the sides of the shaker 43 and much of the pickup unit42. The transfer is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 11, where it will be seenthat the tomatoes roll forwardly down the belt 250 or 251 and are guidedby the member 265 onto the substantially horizontal sorting belts 270and 271. The rear end rollers 266 of the sorting belts 270 and 271 aremovable longitudinally within the loop surrounded by the belts 250, 251,as

.shown in FIG. 11, by means of an adjustment slot 267,

block 268, and threaded member 269 to keep the belts 6 270 and 271 tightwithout interfering with the belts 250 and 251.

The sorting belts 270, 271 move within side frame members 272 and 273that keep tomatoes from falling over the edges, the frame members 272lying near the shaker 43, while the frame members 273 lie on theoutside. Spaced away from the members 273 are fender-like members 274,the space between them providing a disposal chute 275.

The machine is provided with side platforms 276 having protecting rails277 and attached to the frame 35 by suitable fastening means 278. Thesorters stand on these platforms 276, protected by the .rails 277 andwatch the fruit as it passes over the belts 270 and 271. Whenever theyfind fruit which is green, scarred, or damaged so that it fails to meetthe standard, they simply lift it and drop it down the chute or discardtrough 275 between the fender 274 and the frame 273. It falls from theredirectly to the ground, where it does no harm. There may be up to sevensorters on each side and they work according to any predetermined planwhich will be effective.

The forward ends of both sorting conveyors 270 and 271 spill theirtomatoes gently onto a front cross conveyor 280, which extends laterallyacross the machine from one side to the other at approximately the sameforward location as the drivers seat 34. The conveyor 280, which may beof the belt type or of an open mesh metal type for cleaver operation,lies between a pair of retaining walls 281, 282 and may be level. Thefruit from the conveyor 278 is carried beyond the centerline of theconveyor 280 and falls onto the forward half of the conveyor 280, whenceit moves across the machine, to join with it the fruit from the conveyor271, which is spilled into the rear half of the conveyor 280, i.e., rearof the centerline. The conveyor 280 then conveys all the fruit onto theoutput conveyor 46.

The output conveyor 46 extends out to one side of the machine, issupported for adjustment in the height of its out-board end. A pair ofgenerally vertical posts 283, 284 (FIGS. 1-3) extend up from a framemember 286 of the conveyor 46 and are joined together by a member 285. Apair of rigid members 287, one on each side of the conveyor frame 286,are pivoted to the frame 286, and the frame 286 itself is pivotallyjoined to the main frame 35 by a hinge 290 so that the height of itsouter end can be adjusted during operation. The swinging is accomplishedby means of an hydraulic device that includes a cylinder 292, a pistonrod 293, and anchoring members 254 that are anchored to the main frame35 on opposite sides of the cross conveyor frame members 280 and 281. Ahydraulic conduit 295 extends up to the cylinder 292.

The conveyor 46 comprises a flighted belt 296 with cross members orflights 297 that enable upward movement of the tomatoes. The belt 296 isdriven at the inboard end of its loop through a roller 298 and there isa roller 299 at its outboard end. At the outboard end, the tomatoes dropoff the belt 296 into the fruit depositing device 47.

Operation The harvester is self-propelled by its engine 38 drivingall-four wheels 36 and 37 with the operator at his control station 40and provided with the usual steering and braking devices as well as thespecial mechanisms which have been described earlier. Once the machinehas harvested one or more rows of tomatoes, it always moves beside theleft-hand side of a harvested row. In other Words, looking at FIG. 1,the portion still to be harvested would be on the left-0f the machineand the portion already harvested lies on the right. For the first row,of course, this is not feasible, but once that has been harvested, thepattern is begun. Often the machine will first harvest a row downapproximately the middle of the field and a second row at one end of thefield and then will move in a loop, with the machine moving forward tothe left of already harvested adjacent rows.

As the machine approaches the field and moves along the highway, itsoutput conveyor 46 is normally raised as high as possible to take up aminimum of room, and the depositing device 47 is normally taken off andcarried along somewhere on the machine. The clutches are disengaged sothat none of the conveyors, the blower 254, or the walking bars 200 aremoving. The clutch for the pickup chains is also disengaged, and boththe pickup unit 42 and the cutter unit 41 are elevated well above theroad.

After the machine leaves the highway into the field to be harvested, theoperator actuates a hydraulic cylinder 65 so as to lower the pickup unit42 and the cutter unit 41 to their proper positions. The V-shaped knife50 is lowered and, if necessary, is properly adjusted laterally andvertically with respect to its gauge Wheel 52. The relative positiondesired between the cutting unit 41 and the elevator 42 is alsodetermined; normally the knife blade 50 will be about three inches belowthe ground and the front end of the elevator unit 42 will be about twoinches above the ground. At this time, the operator also uses thehydraulic cylinder 292 to erect the output conveyor 46 into the positionshown in FIG. 3, and the fruit depositing device 47 is installed inplace. The sorters take their places on the platform 276, and theoperation is ready to commence.

With the engine set at a desired speed, the operator can now engage theclutches, and the chain 148 of the pickup unit 42 begins moving itstines 161 along their paths. The operator can turn a crank 425 to adjustthe forward speed of the frame 35 and the backward speed of the chains148 while leaving constant the speed of the conveyors and otherconstantdriven parts. As he then starts along the row, all the movingdevices are driven by the engine 38 with the hydraulic devices ready forcontrol by the operator as he needs them.

The machine moves along a row with its tires 36 and 37 in the furrows,while the bin 48 is moved by a separate tractor or suitable device,preferably two furrows away, as shown in FIG. 3. The harvester advanceswith the vertex of the blade 50 to the right of the trunk or main stemof the tomato plant, as shown in FIG. 1, so that the blade portion cutsthe stems of the vines. As it moves below the ground, the blade 50creates a ground swell, which subsides before the pickup unit 42 reachesthat point, so that no dirt gets thrown on the pickup unit 42. As hemoves along, the operator notes the proper blade height and elevatorheight and from time to time moves the pickup unit 42 up and down to theproper elevation. Because of the lost-motion connection between theunits 41 and 42, he can do this without affecting the height of theblade 50. As the blade 50 cuts off the vine with its portion, anyentanglement that might take place on the blade portion cannot occur,for the vine almost immediately passes off at the end of the blade 50.Since the vine is operating below ground, very little entanglement takesplace with the blade portion, and such as does trails off at the end.

The pickup unit 42 engages the cut-off vine at about the point where theground swell stops, or shortly thereafter. Its tines have their fingers161 gradually moving to a position approximately parallel to the guidestrips 140 as the fingers 161 approach the ground and then the fingers161 swing until at the forward limit they lie horizontal. It is in thisposition that they generally pick up the vine and begin lifting it,gradually but slowly, to a forwardly and upwardly inclined position. Theupward inclination enables them to be sure to pick up the vines; aperpendicular position at this time is not necessary and has a positivedisadvantage in that too quick a shift of movement of the tines 160could start shaking the vines somewhat. When so moved, the vine islifted substantially vertically, because the backward speed of the tines161 exactly balances the forward speed of the main frame 35 andtherefore of the frame of the pickup unit 42; as far as the vine isconcerned, it is simply being gently lifted vertically relative to theground. As the vine is moved up and back along the pickup unit 42, thefingers 161 are gradually straightened up until by the time they reachthe top, they are substantially perpendicular to the guide strips 140.At this point the vines are moved over to the slide portion 141 and theycan then roll down the slide 141, being given some final pushes by thefingers 161 as they turn around at the top of their run. The fingers 161are then carried down into the lower run and complete the rest of theirturn so that they will be in position to again pick up the vines whenthey reach the lower end.

The vines slide down the slide 141, which is purposely tilted at a steepangle to encourage them to slide, and if any tomates fall off at thispoint, they too roll down the slide 141 so that there is no problem incollecting them. The slide 141 overhangs the shaker unit 43 and depositsthe vines on the walking bars 200 at approximately no change inelevation 'when they fall off. (Approximately means that the walkingbars 200 are constantly moving up and down; it is not a transfer to astill object but to a moving one.) The tomatoes that have fallen offduring their passage down the slide 141 fall directly between the bars200 and if they should hit the upper surface 201 of one of the bars 200,they are not damaged because it is elastomeric and has no sharp angles.When the tomatoes fall down between the bars 200, they meet noobstruction, but land on the conveyor 230 a very short distance belowthe bars 200, without a severe drop. If they should tend to roll downand forward after falling between the walking bars 200, they are caughtby the front wall 233 and start moving up the conveyor 230, taking aposition in between succeeding pairs of cross members 240. Dirt whichfalls down also falls onto the conveyor 230 but generally falls betweenthe members 240 at the spaces 242, and mainly, after passing throughboth runs of the conveyor 230, onto the ground over which the harvesteris passing.

The walking bars 200, moved by their crankshaft 202 with the aid of thepitman 212, are set to translate according to the paths 222 at theforward end and 223 and 224 at the rear end. The tomatoes are thereforeshaken off the vine with a gradually increasing action, and by the timethey reach the end of the portions 201, the tomatoes have substantiallyall been shaken off the vine and have fallen onto the conveyor 230, asdescribed. The absence of obstruction due to the positioning of thecrankshaft 202 below the conveyor 230 and the use of the arms 209 and210 to make this possible, the smooth transfer from the slide 141 to thebars 200 without any opportunity for the tomatoes to fall elsewhere thanon the conveyor 230, all enhance operation at this point. The vinescontinue to move back, and having left all their tomatoes, move up theinclined portions 261 onto the terminal portions 262 and fall off theends 260 and down onto the slide 225. From there, the vines drop out ofthe machine onto the ground, leaving each vine at approximately the sameposition where it was picked up.

The tomatoes are brought up the conveyor 230 along with some smallleaves and plant bits, but also all the dire has already dropped offthrough the conveyor 230. As they reach the upper end of the conveyor230, the tomatoes fall into the tilted rear cross conveyors 250 and 251across the gap 253, while the blowers 254 send a strong current of airthrough them, carrying the plant debris, leaves, stems, and so on, upthe slide 252 onto the slide 225. The blown current of air is guided bythe shield structure 257 so that it goes down the slide and prevents anyplant bits from drifting back onto the conveyors 251. The tomatoes, asthey move out across the conveyors 250 and 251, are thereforesubstantially clean of plant debris.

The cross conveyors 250 and 251 then carry the tomatoes out to anddeposit them gently on the sorting conveyors 270 and 271. The sorters,standing on the platforms 276, look at all the tomatoes carefully andthrow the discards down into the discard chute 275. The sorted tomatoesthen pass forward to the cross conveyor 280 at the front of the machine.Those from the conveyor 270 move all the way across the machine, arejoined at the opposite side of the machine by the tomatoes from thesorting conveyor 271, and with them, are carried onto the outputconveyor 46. The flight members 297 help to carry the tomatoes uphill,as shown in FIG. 3, over to the fruit depositing device 47. As thetomatoes gradually stack up in the bin, the conveyor 46 can be raised,the device 47 being usually at its lowest position at the commencementof operation so that the tomatoes will not have so far to drop. Thedriver of the vehicle pulling the bin 48 tries to adjust his speed toexactly that of the harvesting device, but if he fails to, the safetyswing of the device 47 prevents damage to the device 47 and to theconveyor 46 by enabling the device 47 to swing on an angle temporarilyuntil the speed is properly adjusted. The device 47 is adjusted toaccommodate the proper size of tomatoes and to obtain the proper angleby means that have been described earlier.

When the operator comes to the end of a row, he actuates the hydrauliccylinder 65 to raise both the pickup unit 42 and the cutter unit 41.When he re-enters a row after having already harvested one row andtherefore having obtained the proper cutting depth of the blade 50 andproper relation of the cutter unit 41 to the pickup unit 42, he operatesa handle 129 to hydraulically lower the units 41 and 42.

The tomatoes are thus mechanically harvested with great efiiciency andare moved from the growing vine to the bin 48 with only the sortingbeing carried out by hand and even that being considerably speeded upand improved by the machine.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, manychanges in construction and widely differing embodiments andapplications of the invention will suggest themselves without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and thedescription herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be inany sense limiting.

We claim:

1. In a tomato harvesting machine having a main frame having a forwardend, a rear end, and sides, means for moving said frame forwardly in afield, pickup means adjacent said forward end for picking up tomatoplants from the field, with the tomatoes attached, and for carrying themrearwardly and upwardly, separating means on said frame extendingrearwardly from adjacent the rear end of said pickup means, forseparating ripe tomatoes off said plants, plant disposal means on therear end of said frame behind said separating means for dropping theplants on the field after said tomatoes have been separated therefrom,and tomato-collecting means supported by said frame below saidseparating means for catching the separated tomatoes and moving saidtomatoes upwardly and rearwardly,

the combination therewith of:

two rear cross-conveyor means supported on said frame at the rear ofsaid tomato-collecting means for sending tomatoes therefrom laterally tothe two sides of said frame,

said tomato-collecting means extending to a point above saidcross-conveyor means, and

blower means in the space between said tomatocollecting means and saidcross-conveyor means for sending a current of air through that space tocarry leaves and lightweight plant parts into said plant disposal meanswhile said tomatoes drop onto said cross-conveyor means.

2. In a tomato harvesting machine havinga main frame having a forwardend, a rear end, and sides, means for moving said frame forwardly in afield, pickup means adjacent said forward end for picking up tomatoplants from the field, with the tomatoes attached, and for carrying themrearwardly and upwardly, separating means on said frame extendingrearwardly from adjacent the rear end of said pickup means, forseparating ripe tomatoes off said plants, plant disposal means on therear end of said frame behind said separating means for dropping theplants on the field after said tomatoes have been separated therefrom,and tomato-collecting means supported by said frame below saidseparating means for catching the separated tomatoes and moving saidtomatoes upwardly and rearwardly,

the combination therewith of:

two rear cross-conveyor means supported on said frame at the rear ofsaid tmoato-collecting means for sending tomatoes therefrom laterally tothe two sides of said frame,

two sorting conveyor means, one supported lengthwise by each side ofsaid frame for receiving tomatoes from one said cross-conveyor means andmoving them forwardly along the sides of said frame to a point forwardof said separating means and between the front and rear ends of saidpickup means,

platform means supported by each side of said frame for holding sorterswho inspect the tomatoes moving along said sorting conveyors,

front lateral conveyor means supported by said frame between the frontand rear ends of said pickup means and above said pickup means forreceiving tomatoes from both said sorting means and moving them in onedirection to one side of said frame,

output conveyor means supported by and extending out laterally beyondsaid frame as an extension of said lateral conveyor means for receivingtomatoes from said lateral conveyor means and carrying them out beyondsaid frame for deposit in suitable containers,

the sorting conveyor means closer to said output conveyor meansextending to about the rear edge of said lateral conveyor means, and

the other said sorter conveyor means extending to about midway betweenthe front and rear edges of said lateral conveyor means.

3. In a tomato harvesting machine having a main frame having a forwardend, a rear end, and sides, means for moving said frame forwardly in afield, pickup means on said frame having a forward end for picking upcutoff tomato plants from the field, with the tomatoes attached, in avertical movement substantially without forward movement, and having arear end, shaking means on said frame extending rearwardly from adjacentthe rear end of said pickup means, for shaking the ripe tomatoes offsaid plants, plant disposal means on the rear end of said framebehind'said shaking means for dropping the plants on the field aftersaid tomatoes have been shaken off, and tomato-collecting meanssupported by said frame below said shaking means for catching saidshaken-off tomatoes and moving said tomatoes upwardly and rearwardly,

the combination thereof:

two rear cross-conveyor means supported widthwise on said frame at therear of said tomato collecting means to receive tomatoes therefrom andfor sending tomatoes therefrom laterally to the two sides of said frame,

said tomato-collecting means extending to a point above said crossconveyor means, and

blower means in the space between said tomato collecting means and saidcross-conveyor means for sending a current of air through that space tocarry away leaves and lightweight plant parts, while said tomatoes droponto said cross-conveyor means.

4. In a tomato harvesting machine having a main frame having a forwardend, a rear end, and sides, means for moving said frame forwardly in afield, pickup means on said frame having a forward end for picking upcut-off tomato plants from the field, with the tomatoes attached, in avertical movement substantially without forward movement, and having arear end, shaking means on said frame extending rearwardly from adjacentthe rear end of said pickup means, for shaking the ripe tomatoes offsaid plants, plant disposal means on the rear end of said frame behindsaid shaking means for dropping the plants on the field after saidtomatoes have been shaken off, and tomato-collecting means supported bysaid frame below said shaking means for catching said shaken-offtomatoes and moving said tomatoes upwardly and rearwardly,

the combination therewith of:

two rear cross-conveyor means supported on said frame at the rear ofsaid tomato collecting means for sending tomatoes therefrom laterally tothe two sides of said frame,

sorting conveyor means supported lengthwise by each side of said framefor receiving tomatoes from said cross-conveyor means and moving themforwardly along the sides of said frame to a point forward of saidshaker means and between the front and rear ends of said pickup means,each said sorter conveyor means comprising a frame confining a beltbetween two side means and a discard chute formed by a partitionsupported by said main frame and spaced between said sorter frame andsaid sorting platform, and

platform means supported by each side of said frame for holding sorterswho inspect the tomatoes moving along each said sorting conveyor.

5. In a tomato harvesting machine having a main frame having a forwardend, a rear end, and sides, means for moving said frame forwardly in afield, pickup means on said frame having a forward end for picking upcut-off tomato plants from the field, with the tomatoes attached, in avertical movement substantially without forward movement, and having arear end, shaking means on said frame extending rearwardly from adjacentthe rear end of said pickup means, for shaking the ripe tomatoes offsaid plants, plant disposal means on the rear end of said frame behindsaid shaking means for dropping the plants on the field after saidtomatoes have been shaken off, and tomato-collecting means supported bysaid frame below said shaking means for catching said shaken-offtomatoes and moving said tomatoes upwardly and rearwardly,

the combination therewith of:

two rear cross-conveyor means supported on said frame at the rear ofsaid tomato collecting means for sending tomatoes therefrom laterally tothe two sides of said frame, and

sorting conveyor means supported lengthwise by each side of said framefor receiving tomatoes from said cross-conveyor means and moving themforwardly along the sides of said frame to a point forward of saidshaker means and 'between the front and rear ends of said pickup means,

said cross-conveyor means comprises tilted conveyor belts and apartition extending angularly across each of them to sweep tomatoes ontosaid sorting conveyor means.

6. In a tomato harvesting machine having a main frame having a forwardend, a rear end, and sides, means for moving said frame forwardly in afield, pickup means on said frame having a forward end for picking upcut-off tomato plants from the field, with the tomatoes attached, in avertical movement substantially without forward movement, and having arear end, shaking means on said frame extending rearwardly from adjacentthe rear end of said pickup means, for shaking the ripe tomatoes offsaid plants, plant disposal means on the rear end of said frame behindsaid shaking means for dropping the plants on the field after saidtomatoes have been shaken off, and tomato-collecting means supported bysaid frame below said shaking means for catching said shaken-offtomatoes and moving said tomatoes upwardly and rearwardly,

the combination therewith of:

two rear cross-conveyor means supported on said frame at the rear ofsaid tomato collecting means for sending tomatoes therefrom laterally tothe two sides of said frame,

sorting conveyor means supported lengthwise by each side of said framefor receiving tomatoes from said cross-conveyor means and moving themforwardly along the sides of said frame to a point forward of saidshaker means and between the front and rear ends of said pickup means,

latform means supported by each side of said frame for holding sorterswho inspect the tomatoes moving along each said sorting conveyor,

front lateral conveyor means supported by said frame between the frontand rear ends of said pickup means and above said pickup means forreceiving tomatoes from both said sorting means and moving them in onedirection to one side of said frame, one said sorting conveyor meansextending only to the rear edge of said front lateral conveyor means andthe other said sorting conveyor means extending to the center linethereof, and

output conveyor means extending out laterally beyond said frame as anextension of said lateral conveyor means and pivotally supported by saidframe for receiving tomatoes from said lateral conveyor means out beyondsaid frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,095,428 10/1937 Batie 171-17 X2,578,189 12/1951 Johnston 171131 X 2,896,728 7/1959 Pridy 17113O3,078,926 2/1963 Ries et a1. 171---14 3,106,249 10/1963 Zachery 171-14ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

ANTONIO F. GUIDA, Examiner.

1. IN A TOMATO HARVESTING MACHINE HAVING A MAIN FRAME HAVING A FORWARDEND, A REAR END, AND SIDES, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID FRAME FORWARDLY IN AFIELD, PICKUP MEANS ADJACENT SAID FORWARD END FOR PICKING UP TOMATOPLANTS FROM THE FIELD, WITH THE TOMATOES ATTACHED, AND FOR CARRYING THEMREARWARDLY AND UPWARDLY, SEPARATING MEANS ON SAID FRAME EXTENDINGREARWARDLY FROM ADJACENT THE REAR END OF SAID PICKUP MEANS, FORSEPARATING RIPE TOMATOES OFF SAID PLANTS, PLANT DISPOSAL MEANS ON THEREAR END OF SAID FRAME BEHIND SAID SEPARATING MEANS FOR DROPPING THEPLANTS ON THE FIELD AFTER SAID TOMATOES HAVE BEEN SEPARATED THEREFROM,AND TOMATO-COLLECTING MEANS SUPPORTED BY SAID FRAME BELOW SAIDSEPARATING MEANS FOR CATCHING THE SEPARATED TOMATOES AND MOVING SAIDTOMATOES UPWARDLY AND REARWARDLY, THE COMBINATION THEREWITH OF: TWO REARCROSS-CONVEYOR MEANS SUPPORTED ON SAID FRAME AT THE REAR OF SAIDTOMATO-COLLECTING MEANS FOR SENDING TOMATOES THEREFROM LATERALLY TO THETWO SIDES OF SAID FRAME, SAID TOMATO-COLLECTING MEANS EXTENDING TO APOINT ABOVE SAID CROSS-CONVEYOR MEANS, AND BLOWER MEANS IN THE SPACEBETWEEN SAID TOMATOCOLLECTING MEANS AND SAID CROSS-CONVEYOR MEANS FORSENDING A CURRENT OF AIR THROUGH THAT SPACE TO CARRY LEAVES ANDLIGHTWEIGHT PLANT PARTS INTO SAID PLANT DISPOSAL MEANS WHILE SAIDTOMATOES DROP ONTO SAID CROSS-CONVEYOR MEANS.